Nitrogen for Food Packaging: Sizing an On-Site System for Seasonal Demand

Add a packing line for the seasonal rush and nitrogen demand changes in ways an annual consumption figure cannot show. Longer shifts increase total volume, while simultaneous gas-flushing cycles create short demand peaks that can pull supply pressure below the packer’s requirement.

Selecting a nitrogen generator for food packaging starts with the product’s validated gas specification and the busiest production schedule. At Anglian Compressors, a Branch of Atlas Copco Compressors, we supply nitrogen generators, compressed air equipment and installation services across the East of England and surrounding regions.

Establish What the Complete Nitrogen Package Must Deliver

Atlas Copco described an integrated modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) skid in its PPMA 2026 announcement. The package combines an NGP+ nitrogen generator with drying, filtration, purification, storage and controls.

That integrated approach makes the package boundary worth examining. A generator quotation should identify everything needed between the compressed air connection and the packaging machine, including any equipment supplied separately.

Our gas generation service sits alongside compressor supply, air treatment and pipework installation. This allows the gas requirement and the supporting air system to be considered together when adding or expanding a MAP line.

Translate Seasonal Production Into a Demand Profile

Start with the packing-machine supplier’s gas requirement for each product recipe. Record consumption at the intended line speed, delivery pressure and whether the figure covers continuous operation, individual flushing cycles or both.

Build the seasonal schedule around actual overlap. Two machines running together for an afternoon create a different requirement from the same machines operating on separate shifts.

Calculate Running Demand From Measured Consumption

For a preliminary calculation, multiply packs per minute by the measured nitrogen consumption per pack, then convert to an hourly flow. Keep every volume on the same stated pressure and temperature reference basis.

As an illustrative example, assume a line produces 60 packs per minute and consumes two litres of nitrogen per pack on an agreed reference basis. Running demand is 120 litres per minute, or 7.2 cubic metres per hour on that same basis.

Those assumptions are arithmetic inputs, not a recommended flushing rate. Replace them with measurements or validated machine data, and include start-up purges, changeovers and other gas users separately.

Capture the Peaks That an Average Hides

A cyclic machine may draw its gas within a small part of each packing cycle. An hourly average can conceal that instantaneous requirement, particularly when multiple machines flush together.

Record peak flow, its duration and the interval available for recovery. Also distinguish a short burst from a seasonal increase lasting an entire shift.

Our article on how a nitrogen generator works explains the separation process. For sizing, require the supplier to state available nitrogen flow at your selected purity, inlet conditions and delivery pressure.

Set Gas Quality and Pack Oxygen as Separate Requirements

Generator gas purity and residual oxygen in a sealed pack are separate measurements.

The first describes the supplied gas, while the second checks the atmosphere achieved by the packaging process.

Nitrogen is identified as food additive E 941 in the Food Standards Agency’s additive guidance. Specify conformity with the applicable food-additive authorisation and gas-quality requirements, with supporting documentation for the proposed installation.

An oxygen reading alone cannot establish the condition of every possible contaminant. Agree the required gas testing, sampling location and records with your food-safety team before equipment selection.

Select Purity Through Product and Packaging Validation

For oxygen-sensitive products, food research organisation Campden BRI recommends keeping residual oxygen as low as the equipment can achieve to maximise shelf life. Its MAP product guidance also highlights the need to control measurement timing. Gases can redistribute between the product and pack headspace after sealing.

Have the packaging and food-safety teams establish acceptable pack oxygen, gas composition, sampling timing and shelf-life evidence for each recipe. Then specify a generator purity that reliably supports those results and meets the applicable gas-quality requirements.

We recommend comparing equipment at that validated operating point. Our explanation of how gas purity affects cost covers the wider cost relationship, while this project’s decision depends on the required flow and pack performance.

Preserve the Product’s Food-Safety Controls

Lower oxygen does not, by itself, establish a safe shelf life. The Food Standards Agency’s chilled VP/MAP guidance (food.gov.uk) addresses non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum, which can grow and produce toxin without oxygen.

The guidance has a specific scope and exceptions, including chilled fresh beef, lamb and pork. Your food-safety assessment must preserve the controls applicable to the actual product.

Some products require an atmosphere containing oxygen or carbon dioxide. A nitrogen installation leaves those gas supplies, mixing arrangements and recipe validation as separate decisions.

Match Compressor Feed to the Busiest Shift

A spare compressor connection tells you little about available feed-air capacity. Check the compressor’s free air delivery at the required discharge pressure against existing site demand and the generator’s air requirement at the selected operating point.

Allow for dryer demand, treatment losses and pressure drop through the connecting pipework. Review the manufacturer’s permitted inlet temperature and air quality under the conditions expected during peak production.

Verify Feed-Air Quality and Shared Capacity

Specify the required particle, water and oil classes using BS EN ISO 8573-1, the compressed air purity standard. The ISO standard description identifies those three contaminant categories, but the generator manufacturer must provide the applicable class designation.

For a shared system, the assessment of air compressors for packaging applications should include both nitrogen generation and the packaging equipment’s pneumatic demand. Our flow monitoring, energy audits and leak detection can provide the measured system data needed to assess available capacity.

Use Nitrogen Storage for Defined Demand Bursts

A nitrogen buffer vessel can supply gas during a brief demand burst, then recover between cycles. Its usable capacity depends on the pressure range between the charged vessel and the minimum pressure required downstream.

Calculate the burst deficit from the difference between packaging demand and generator delivery over the burst duration. Confirm that the generator can replenish that volume before the next event.

Keep Sustained Demand Separate From Buffer Sizing

If packaging demand exceeds generation throughout a shift, the buffer will progressively empty. More storage extends the time before pressure falls, but the sustained deficit remains.

For seasonal production, compare a larger generator, staged capacity or a planned supplementary supply against the duration and frequency of the peak. Leave future line expansion explicit in the design, rather than hiding it inside an unexplained sizing margin.

Include Pressure and Atmosphere Safety Before Installation

Under PSSR 2000 (Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000), qualifying pressure equipment requires a Written Scheme of Examination (WSE) and examination before use. The Health and Safety Executive’s PSSR guidance explains the dutyholder and Competent Person responsibilities.

Have the complete air and nitrogen pressure system assessed, including receivers, buffer vessels and protective devices. Anglian Compressors provides Written Scheme of Examination services, so this requirement can form part of installation planning.

Nitrogen releases can displace breathable air, creating an oxygen-depletion hazard. The site assessment should address ventilation, release locations and any oxygen monitoring or alarms required, supported by HSE’s asphyxiation guidance.

Define Backup by the Failure It Must Cover

A standby nitrogen source needs sufficient usable flow, pressure and duration for the agreed production duty. Decide whether backup must maintain every packing line or only support an orderly shutdown.

Check what happens after compressor failure, generator isolation, loss of power or an off-spec gas alarm. A second generator sharing the same failed feed-air supply cannot cover that event.

Agree the changeover method, gas-quality checks and restart sequence. Include planned servicing and recovery from seasonal shutdown in the operating procedure.

Make Acceptance Reflect Peak Production

Before ordering, put the acceptance conditions in writing. They should include:

• The validated gas-quality specification and supporting documentation.
• Nitrogen flow and delivery pressure during the agreed simultaneous line operation.
• Buffer pressure recovery between representative demand bursts.
• Alarm, off-spec gas and backup changeover behaviour.
• Pack oxygen results measured using the agreed sampling procedure.

For a useful quotation, provide product recipes, packing-machine details, shift patterns, measured gas consumption, existing compressor data and the proposed equipment location. The remaining uncertainty may be the seasonal product mix itself. If next season’s recipes are still undecided, keep that limitation visible in the capacity proposal and reserve a defined expansion route.